'100 trains a day' to be axed

Up to 100 rail services a day will be slashed from some of the busiest networks in the country to cut congestion and improve reliability, the Strategic Rail Authority announced today.

Direct links between Oxford and Bristol on the Great Western line will be shelved, as will services between Derby and Birmingham, Southampton and Bournemouth, and Manchester Airport and Crewe.

Virgin Cross Country services will also be reduced, allowing remaining services to use longer trains in the hope of making carriages less crowded.

SRA chairman Richard Bowker told BBC Breakfast News: "There will be some passengers who will find that they are slightly inconvenienced but overall the pain is far out-weighed by the gain we get.

"We will never attract more passengers to the railway or investment or Government support unless we can make what we have got work effectively, and that is what this is about.

"The targets to get more people on the railway are exactly the same. It's not changed at all. This is about making the railway perform better. Remember, we run about 17,000 trains a day so we are talking about less than 1%.

"This is about making what we have today work effectively. That's what passengers tell us is their number one priority.

"In certain places the network is so congested it's just not working and we have to do something about that. Our vision is a bigger railway, a better railway, properly delivered."

But he warned that further services could be cut in other areas where there is heavy congestion.

He added: "We are looking at whether or not there are other areas where there is heavy congestion on the network where this kind of technique can actually help us deliver better performance."

Passengers' representatives claimed that although rail-users would react angrily to the move, they would have to look to the long-term aim of restoring the railways.

Anthony Smith, national director of train-users' watchdog the Rail Passengers Council, said: "Passengers will be very disappointed in some parts of the country, where there will be a loss of service, but I think we have to look a little bit more into the future and see now how we can rebuild this service."

Since privatisation, the number of rail services has grown by about 20% nationwide. This has contributed to congestion on lines, increasing the likelihood of delays faced by passengers.

George Muir, of the Association of Train Operating Companies, backed the move and described the decision as a necessary result if the railways are to be rescued from an "overall deterioration".

"We have been saying for some time that parts of the timetable don't work properly, which is leading to delays for passengers," he said.

"We have put on in the last six years over 20% more train miles and in some respects I think we have slightly overdone it and the result is an overall deterioration in the service.

"The key is to be very selective and try to remove or adjust those very selective services which are causing some damage to the timetable."

But Shadow transport secretary Tim Collins insisted that the cuts would signal "yet another nail in the coffin of the Government's 10-year transport plan".

"Already many future rail expansion projects are being shelved or cancelled outright," he said.

"And now we are seeing existing rail services being reduced, not increased."

Unions and business leaders reacted with outrage to the announcement and pledged to campaign to reverse the "scandalous" decision.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime & Transport Union, said: "There is nothing strategic about the Strategic Rail Authority. It is lunacy to suggest that by cutting services you will improve them.

"If the unions were to cause this level of disruption by strikes, we would be called wreckers.

"When the bosses do it, it is supposed to be sound business sense. We need more services, not less."

The union said it would make urgent approaches to the SRA to try to reverse this decision.

The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce added its voice of protest with a spokesman describing the cuts as "crazy".

He continued: "It makes me wonder who these people are serving. It is absolutely unbelievable that services are being cut in the interests of reliability.

"Any erosion of rail services is a step backwards and will affect businesses."

The spokesman said businesses would also be angry that no consultation had taken place and that views of passengers had been ignored.